Give Immersive Learning a Try! Don't Just Read about It

January 9, 2016June 3, 2020 valibrarian1 Comment

Medieval Quest is coming to the Community Virtual Library in Second Life. A beautiful Medieval village, complete with King Arthur’s Court, was built by Brant Knutzen at the University of Hong Kong.

Through collaboration with the Community Virtual Library, plans are underway to provide live tours with a role-play quest. All participants can choose parts to role-play and participate at any level desired. Sound like fun?

Here are the initial planning session times (Second Life Time- SLT- Pacific Time zone). More information about the role-play dates will be forthcoming.

Monday Jan 25th 6pm SLT Medieval Quest Planning Meeting (Share roles and overview)

Saturday Jan 30th 7am SLT (Continue sharing roles and training) Prepare Press Release to send for publicity Meet at the Community Virtual Library Exhibit area

I am tentatively choosing the role of “The Lady of Shalott”. There are numerous places to find free historical clothes for your avatar. The Medieval Quest is based on the concept of bringing literature to life through role-play and simulation. This project is a demonstration of how learning has changed and is changing. Don’t just read about it….come give it a try!

Post PostModernism & the Power of the MEME

December 20, 2015June 3, 2020 valibrarian

I am not much of a football fan but because I moved to Seattle, I rooted for the Seahawks in Super Bowl 49 (2015). The Seahawks were very close to winning the game when there was a call which caused tons of controversy and criticism. Those of you who know football could explain it better than me, but apparently a big player who was great at “running the ball in for a touchdown” (Marshawn Lynch) could have scored or could have given them more time. But, the coach decided to let the quarterback try for a throw which was intercepted. Seahawks lost abruptly and left everyone with a “What just happened!!?” moment of disbelief.

Now- Superbowls are known for the high quality commercials which I have always looked forward to more than the game! There was another crazy moment of disbelief during Super Bowl 49 when Nationwide aired an extremely sad (and some say distasteful) commercial about a young boy who died in the bathtub. The commercial was suppose to create awareness of childhood accidents, the number one cause of death for youngsters. I was scrolling through twitter during the game and saw tons of people saying “OMG! Did you see that? What were they thinking?” etc.

At the end of the game, within seconds of the loss, I witnessed something on twitter which exemplifies the power of the meme. The two moments of disbelief- the dead child and the crazy loss of a superbowl- were entwined by a witty tweet by Jared Smith.

This merge of two moments, shared by thousands of people, somehow relates to my understanding of post postmodernism. We live in an era where everything is a reference to something else. Modernism is essentially an art term (so too are post and post-post), but for me it is a philosophical concept because I have no formal art training. I have yet to find anyone who can explain this to me but here’s my take: Our great great grandparents lived each day struggling to plant the crops, harvest them, can them, cook them and survive. There was little time to think about other things beyond survival, yet they were grateful. Modern conveniences (picture the 1950’s Westinghouse ads with Betty Furness) gave our grandparents time to relax and enjoy “leisure time”. Purchasing these shiny contraptions (cookers, grinders, mixers, warmers) gave them the good life.

photo from https://envisioningtheamericandream.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/xmas-kitchen-westinghouse-betty-furness-swscan08163.jpg

A movement to simplify life and get rid of clutter has risen in my lifetime. I personally have witnessed the move from physical collection of objects to life in the digital and virtual world. I have witnessed the move from physical books, as a librarian, to the digitization of everything. So too, I have felt the shift from a mindset of the physical to a mindset of the virtual. Most of the jobs pursued by young college graduates are connected to the digital tech industry in some way. Every field, from medicine to mechanics, is impacted by computers.

So, how can I explain post postmodernism? The words escape me. But I know that the power of the meme I saw, live on twitter within seconds of that Superbowl 2015, is somehow an example and I knew it the second it appeared.

Wait!! What? Everyone is "Elsewhere" Conversation in the Digital Age (Part Two)

December 17, 2015June 3, 2020 valibrarian

My review of Sherry Turkle’s Reclaiming Conversation continues with the concept of avoiding boredom or anxiety in our lives by “going elsewhere” on our phones. Those “boring bits of life” and worries that may come into our minds can be escaped by scrolling our news feeds and connecting with our online networks. Turkle suggests we consider the value of contemplation during brief moments of boredom and anxiety because as humans this “thinking through” leads to problem-solving and creativity. A lull in a conversation gives us time to reflect on the people around us. But today– our mobile devices tug at us to go “elsewhere”.

And when we get to this other place on our devices, the activity is nonstop. It’s become acceptable to back channel through conferences, business meetings, events and even mealtime. Interruption is now considered simply another mode of connectivity. Our brains love the stimulation of endless diversion but we never feel we can really keep up. Turkle says, “Only half joking, people in their teens and twenties tell me that the most commonly heard phrase at dinner with their friends is “Wait, what?” Everyone is always missing a beat, the time it takes to find an image or send a text (pg 37)”.

Certainly, the constant companionship we carry in our pockets can be used for good and I remain hopeful that the future can bring positive uses for technology in our daily lives. Stay tuned for more of the warnings we may need to heed as presented in this book and the possible solutions we are urged to embrace before it is too late!

Part of digital citizenship (and information literacy) is giving ourselves a healthy information diet. Just like our bodies will have consequences if we eat only tasty junk food or sweets, so too our minds are at risk in an age of constant digital intake and interruption.

photo from http://weknowmemes.com/2012/07/whats-the-point-of-being-afraid-of-the-zombie-apocalypse/

Conversation in the Digital Age (Part One)

December 9, 2015June 3, 2020 valibrarian1 Comment

I just finished reading Sherry Turkle’s Reclaiming Conversation which was chock full of truisms and presents a challenge to all of us to consider how we communicate. She makes a case for setting limits on technology tools, particularly our phones, and taking a good look at the value and importance of real voices and human eye contact in face to face conversation. Turkle believes students today lack empathy for others because our constant connectivity in digital spaces reduces friendship to a “performance” rather than a relationship.

In addition to the preference of texting over talking and the performance of “an edited life” on social media, young people are bombarded by information all around them and have grown up in a state of distraction. Television increasingly brings us BREAKING NEWS with a constant crawl on non-related topics scrolling across the screen and dramatic special effects hyping what is suppose to inform us.

Not only are we now comfortable with constant distraction, we consider nonstop interruption a normal state of affairs as our devices ding and beep in our pockets. Turkle says, “We forget how unusual this has become, that many young people are growing up without ever having experienced unbroken conversations either at the dinner table or when they take a walk with parents or friends. For them, phones have always come along” p. 16.

Are you concerned about the effects of mobile devices and where global digital participatory culture is heading? Do you feel like you have a handle on balancing your “digital double” (Turkle’s term for our online selves)?

The ideas in Turkle’s latest book are worthy of our attention. Stay tuned for part two and more discussion on this critical topic.
Photos from https://www.flickr.com/photos/rubbercat/208330144/in/photostream/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/clanlife/6369791755

Dickens Project in a Virtual World Opens Dec. 12

November 7, 2015June 3, 2020 valibrarian

Issued: November 7, 2015
PRESS RELEASE
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACTS
Caledonia Skytower, Seanchai Library
thedede@comcast.net
THE DICKENS PROJECT Returns
to Benefit
The Community Virtual Library in Second Life

The Dickens Project- A popular festival, first presented in 2012 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of author Charles Dickens’ birth, is returning to Second Life this December in a limited form, to benefit The Community Virtual Library. The festival is presented free to all Second Life Residents and donations will be accepted for the Community Virtual Library: a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, connecting residents with information resources, reference services and serving as a networking tool for information resource professionals.

The nine day festival will open on December 12th, centering on Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, presenting the novella in a variety of adaptations (including unabridged), in sections and in its entirety. The work is presented at different times to make the live readings accessible to residents from different parts of the world. Other works from within the author’s vast canon are featured and interactive information on the times and work of Charles Dickens can be explored.

Seanchai Library will produce the 2015 edition of The Dickens Project, presenting nearly fifteen hours of live readings between December 12 and 20th, and holding a dance and music event “Fezziwig’s Ball” on Saturday, December 19th. The final event, a marathon “All Read” presentation of A Christmas Carol performed by a relay team of Seanchai Staff, is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, December 20th. The final event schedule for The Dickens Project will be released in early December.

In 1843 Charles Dickens prefaced his about-to-be classic tale with these words: “I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.” He began the novella in October, and it went on to become the most successful book of the 1843 holiday season, selling six thousand copies by Christmas and continuing to be popular into the new year.

Dickens set out to weave a story of humanity, kindness, and benevolence which he had failed to do with under-selling Martin Chuzzlewitt. He would do so “without browbeating or scolding, or mounting a soap box.” His book centers itself upon Christmas, but aside from the title and the timing of the tale, is not a religious tract. The story centers on the transformation of a single soul from miserly rigidity, to generous compassion. Dickens did something entirely unheard of foe an author of his stature in his time: he self published to book. He hired and supervised the illustration, oversaw the book design and consulted on the advertising. His publishers Chapman and Hall, who had demurred on the project, served only as his printers and received a fixed fee from every book sold.

The 2015 edition of The Dickens Project will take place in the Community Virtual Library’s exhibit space in it s home on the Bradley University Sim. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bradley%20University/31/171/24 It will also be accessible from Seanchai Library’s parcel immediately to the east. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bradley%20University/100/209/28

Seanchai Library (Shanna-key, which means “Storyteller” in Irish.) was founded in March of 2008 in Second Life. Thousands of stories, and hundreds of authors later, the program remains dedicated to promoting the power of stories to transform and inspire through live voice presentations: “We bring stories of all kinds to life, in Second Life.”

War and Peace: Reflection on Literature in the Digital Age -Part 1

August 19, 2015June 3, 2020 valibrarian

I just finished reading Tolstoy’s War and Peace. For real. I guess last night when I read the final page, it was a bit like reaching the top of the print version of Mount Everest. Having accomplished this literary feat, I certainly have enough material floating around in my head to reflect upon in more than one blog post. You may never read this novel, but feel free to join me and reflect on what it meant, what it means, and what it may mean in the future.

The first question is: Why?

Why read War and Peace, the historical fiction novel written way back in 1869, which is often referenced whenever we speak of something super long and boring?

I simply decided to read War and Peace before it is too late. I will explain.

Back in 2011, I happened upon Nicholas Carr’s book The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains and his insights validated my own feelings that I was losing a grip on how to deeply focus. We still read as much as we ever did, but in little snippets of skimming blogs and posts and scrolling through content on our mobile devices.

Several references about our lack of ability to read and absorb long passages of text were made by Nicholas Carr. Bruce Friedman, a medical school faculty pathologist at the University of Michigan, is quoted in The Shallows, stating, “I can’t read War and Peace anymore. I’ve lost the ability to do that. Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it. (Carr, 2011, p.7)” (Are you still with me? You have passed the three or four paragraph mark. I dare you to finish this blog post. And you don’t have to read War and Peace- I promise.)

Carr also quotes Clay Shirky, digital media scholar at NYU, suggesting in a 2008 blog post, “No one reads War and Peace. It’s too long, and not so interesting (Carr, 2011, p.111).” He goes on to explain long novels of the past are not worth the time invested and “were just a side-effect of living in an environment of impoverished access”.

Today, we have access to live information on a global scale at our fingertips and in our pockets. We can view millions and millions of youtube videos, instagram photos, tweets, and memes created by people all over the globe. Are we really “information rich”? Carr raised this question with the warning that thoughtful people may “…slip comfortably into the permanent state of distractedness that defines online life” (p. 112). In 2011, I took that warning very seriously and I still do.

So, I read War and Peace. And it was truly worth the effort.

Stay tuned for Part 2 – if you finished this post- and I’ll reflect on what it’s all about.

Retiring into Virtual Reality

April 21, 2015June 3, 2020 valibrarian

What does a librarian do after working for 25 years in a beautiful school library? One cannot simply walk away from information literacy. The future of mankind depends upon it!

For nearly a decade, this blog has focused on the intersection of information literacy and global digital participatory culture (where students now live). Futurists, such as Thomas Frey, often make fascinating predictions; however, nobody really knows what libraries and digital culture will look like in ten years. One prediction is the rise in virtual reality tools like Oculus Rift, which I was able to experience this week thanks to my colleague from the University of Washington, Suzette Lewis and her talented computer programmer son, Matthew.

Suzette and Matthew are working on a research project in Oculus Rift to explore how 3D immersion with a headset and body motions differs from “flat computer screen” 3D worlds. I was invited, along with another graduate from the University of Washington’s Certificate in Virtual Worlds, to preview the project and found it simply amazing, although I was surprised the motion of movement in Oculus Rift made me dizzy! What!? I love roller coasters but his was totally different. Since I was motivated to master the movements, I was moving my arms wildly and found myself falling off a high platform into water. The graphics (created by Matthew in Unity) were amazingly realistic.

What does virtual reality have to do with information literacy and education? Consider how technology has impacted learning in the past five years. My school library was transformed from a primarily print-based environment to a digital world of iPads and apps in just two years. This rapid change is likely to continue in all areas of life- particularly social life as mobile devices continue to promise “connectivity” with our friends and family. Facebook has teamed up with Oculus Rift to make shared virtual events (concerts, a child’s birthday party, or anything one can imagine) possible. The educational potential might allow students to experience history, math, literature, art, or any other area of academics through virtual reality.

Having worked in virtual worlds for over 8 years, this concept is certainly not new to me. In fact, immersive learning experiences (such as the Anne Frank MOOC or the Summer in Berlin Simulation) are already possible in virtual worlds without a headset. The difference is the use of body movements rather than a keyboard and mouse. The potential for experiences of a variety of purposes is obvious; however, one might consider the actual concept of “reality”. What actually is reality? Is reality what is happening around us in the concrete world or what is happening within the mind?

Just as in the physical world, we have choices to make every day. Where do we want to spend our time and place our attention? What books do we want to read and what other media formats do we pursue? VR will bring more possibilities which will exemplify the personal responsibility required of digital citizens. Yes, it comes down to information literacy once again.

Leaving the Library (a poem)

January 27, 2015June 3, 2020 valibrarian1 Comment

Leaving the Library

Three metaphors abide inside this space:
Life’s blood, a garden, and a treasure box.
Like blood, these books bring life within this place;
Thought circulating hands, pages, talks.
As stories link our present, future, past
Connecting everything and everyone
A tiny thread, a membrane holds steadfast
The wall twixt knowledge and oblivion.
Old dusty books are dead ’til opened up
Awakening the life within the seed
And *words devoid of thought an empty cup
No nourishment, as plant is choked by weed
A garden cultivated over years
The harvest? readers, wide-eyed wonder, awe
And meaning grasped through giggles, glints of tears.
The paradox? Imagine Shangri-La
Discovery of universal truth
Treasures of the future and days long gone
Shared, pondered, passed from aged hands to youth
Time forges. The librarian moves on.

By Valerie Hill upon retirement from 20 years in a library
*Lev Vygotsky

We are All Librarians Now

September 4, 2014June 3, 2020 valibrarian

We are all photographers. Download some apps and use Instagram.

We are all moviemakers. Kindergarteners use iMovie.

We are all journalists. Get a blog and a content curation tool.

We are all librarians. Organize it, people!

But it isn’t as easy as we thought…not even for me (a 20+yr career librarian).

Today, as I curated content on Scoopit (so easy- just click the button), an article on MOOCs didn’t post into my MOOC topic but posted in a different topic. Ask yourself- Who has time to go back and fix that?

With a free content curation account, I have three topics: The Future of Libraries, A Librarian’s MOOC Scrapscoop, and Transliteracy: Physical, Augmented and Virtual Worlds. Suggestions for my topics come up (depending on the search terms I place in each). Why would my click on an article suggested for MOOCs appear in my Future of Libraries topic stream? Who knows or is even the least bit interested? But I am reminded of the careful details necessary for cataloging information. Every detail matters so that the correct information is given to the information seeker who deserves accuracy.

Nobody cares anymore! (I think or I worry.)
The convenience of one click content curation tops the years I spent learning in library school. And what tops that? How many “likes” did you get? This type of thinking encourages disposable media.

Thanks for listening to my rant. I need to talk to an old newspaper guy who remembers what the world once was. I would like to live in a world where people care about accuracy and authority more than what they personally have to say at the moment.

Poem Challenge

September 1, 2014June 3, 2020 valibrarian

Life: a journey of change mixed in a bowl
A bowl of flour stirred and gently kneaded
Turning to cement, milestones stop the clock
Like words capturing the day and the night
Milestones, glimpses of meaning in the lamp
Day follows night follows day on we go

We stare like a deer in awe of the light
In awe of the glimpse- the lamp in the dark
We gasp at the glimpse, gone ever so soon
Grasping at the bowl, the flour, the cement
Kneading and needing we must form the dough
We must find the meaning and make our mark

Leave some gift behind before we can grieve

This fleeting moment, never lost- believe

Valibrarian

Navigating the sea of online chaos in global digital participatory culture

Category: libraries